Take a deeper look, and one could also see geographical boundaries being blurred, as a wide range of guests from a spectrum of professional fields made their presence felt here.

It was Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who, along with Narendra Modi, stole the show. The religious and political heads greeted one another cordially, after which each spent some time observing the works individually. The two then inaugurated the show along with Gopinath Munde and Vinod Khanna.

Also present at this unique exhibition were Varsha Usgaonkar and Chhaya Momaya, who was all set to leave for a holiday to South Africa that night.

Naik Subedar Bana Singh, who won the Param Vir Chakra for his bravery in preventing a Siachen post from falling into Pakistan Army’s hands in 1987, was on Wednesday awarded the inaugural Sivaji-FACT award for courage.

Singh, who was feted by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images], was also given Rs 1 lakh with the award.

“For all the services this great hero did for the country, the government sees it fit to give him a pension of Rs 100-odd. Hence we decided to give him a cheque of Rs 1 lakh,” said Francois Gautier, the trustee of the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, a non-profit organisation, said while presenting the cheque to Singh.

Earlier in the day, in New Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj appealed to the government to do whatever it can including changing the rules to ensure that some dignity is restored to people like Singh.

“I hung my head in shame when I learnt the conditions in which Singh lives in Jammu. The man who gave the best years of his life to the country is now being forced to run from pillar to post to make ends meet. He gets a meagre sum of Rs 100 as pension,” she said.

She wondered how a person like Singh, who has two daughters of marriageable age, will carry out his duties towards his family.

At the function in Mumbai, chants of Jai Gurudev and Gujarat ka sher ayaa overlapped as Ravi Shankar and Modi stepped on to the stage together. The two charismatic leaders, who inaugurated an exhibition on Chatrapati Sivaji, spoke about the greatness of the Marathi leader.

Gautier threw the rule book out of the window and surprised the dignitaries by inviting them out of turn and asking them to speak extempore.

Ravi Shankar, who was asked to speak of Sivaji and his spiritual side, said: “One day, Sivaji who was tired of all the problems he faced as a ruler, went to Samarta Ramdas and laid down his crown in front of the swami. Sivaji said he found the burden of ruling was too much for him to handle. The swami accepted it and when Sivaji was just about to leave, he called him and placed a proposition in front of him. The swami said he would take the mantle of the ruler under one condition: that Sivaji work for him.

“Sivaji gladly accepted and returned to rule the country with great prudence. All he needed was the burden of responsibility taken off him.”

Modi, who was asked to speak on Sivaji as an inspiration for those in public life, said: “The brand of secularism that Sivaji followed was the real deal. He wrote to the Mughal rulers, who levied a tax on Hindus, asking them to revoke the tax.

“I do not know why the government in Delhi is so uneasy when the subject of terrorism is broached. They should also learn from Sivaji. He was the person who engaged in guerilla warfare against those who invaded the country, which is a form of terrorism so to speak.

“And third, Sivaji was one of the first persons to protect the cow. Will the centre again learn a lesson from Sivaji, and if not him at least Mahatma Gandhi [Images], who also fought for the protection of the cow, and pass a law to protect the cow across the nation?” he said.

Take a deeper look, and one could also see geographical boundaries being blurred, as a wide range of guests from a spectrum of professional fields made their presence felt here.

It was Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who, along with Narendra Modi, stole the show. The religious and political heads greeted one another cordially, after which each spent some time observing the works individually. The two then inaugurated the show along with Gopinath Munde and Vinod Khanna.

Also present at this unique exhibition were Varsha Usgaonkar and Chhaya Momaya, who was all set to leave for a holiday to South Africa that night.

Naik Subedar Bana Singh, who won the Param Vir Chakra for his bravery in preventing a Siachen post from falling into Pakistan Army’s hands in 1987, was on Wednesday awarded the inaugural Sivaji-FACT award for courage.

Singh, who was feted by spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi [Images], was also given Rs 1 lakh with the award.

“For all the services this great hero did for the country, the government sees it fit to give him a pension of Rs 100-odd. Hence we decided to give him a cheque of Rs 1 lakh,” said Francois Gautier, the trustee of the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism, a non-profit organisation, said while presenting the cheque to Singh.

Earlier in the day, in New Delhi, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj appealed to the government to do whatever it can including changing the rules to ensure that some dignity is restored to people like Singh.

“I hung my head in shame when I learnt the conditions in which Singh lives in Jammu. The man who gave the best years of his life to the country is now being forced to run from pillar to post to make ends meet. He gets a meagre sum of Rs 100 as pension,” she said.

She wondered how a person like Singh, who has two daughters of marriageable age, will carry out his duties towards his family.

At the function in Mumbai, chants of Jai Gurudev and Gujarat ka sher ayaa overlapped as Ravi Shankar and Modi stepped on to the stage together. The two charismatic leaders, who inaugurated an exhibition on Chatrapati Sivaji, spoke about the greatness of the Marathi leader.

Gautier threw the rule book out of the window and surprised the dignitaries by inviting them out of turn and asking them to speak extempore.

Ravi Shankar, who was asked to speak of Sivaji and his spiritual side, said: “One day, Sivaji who was tired of all the problems he faced as a ruler, went to Samarta Ramdas and laid down his crown in front of the swami. Sivaji said he found the burden of ruling was too much for him to handle. The swami accepted it and when Sivaji was just about to leave, he called him and placed a proposition in front of him. The swami said he would take the mantle of the ruler under one condition: that Sivaji work for him.

“Sivaji gladly accepted and returned to rule the country with great prudence. All he needed was the burden of responsibility taken off him.”

Modi, who was asked to speak on Sivaji as an inspiration for those in public life, said: “The brand of secularism that Sivaji followed was the real deal. He wrote to the Mughal rulers, who levied a tax on Hindus, asking them to revoke the tax.

“I do not know why the government in Delhi is so uneasy when the subject of terrorism is broached. They should also learn from Sivaji. He was the person who engaged in guerilla warfare against those who invaded the country, which is a form of terrorism so to speak.

“And third, Sivaji was one of the first persons to protect the cow. Will the centre again learn a lesson from Sivaji, and if not him at least Mahatma Gandhi [Images], who also fought for the protection of the cow, and pass a law to protect the cow across the nation?” he said.

The Exhibition is blend ofArt and History, Art by the Rajasthani miniature artists in water colours based on Archival records from the GOI Department of museums. History comes to life with the copies of original letters and court documents from Rajastani and Moghul courts. The exhibition has exclusive and for the first time showing the Rajastani documents that reveal something never said before and also depicted in maps are facts revealed for the first time. Thanks to Prof. V S Bhatnagar (retd) History department University of Rajastan we have some of the finest collections of 16 paintings, 7 parsi documents (Akhbarat), 9 maps (4 maps from archives), 1 naval scroll.

This exhibition will show the unique place of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the history of India, at a time when Hindus were experiencing great oppression and humiliation : their temples were being broken, and they were being discriminated against in various forms, such as in the matter of charging custom duties, restrictions on their fairs and festivals, their dismissal from government posts, large-scale conversions as a part of openly declared policy of the Mughal State, imposition of the religious tax Jiziya for being a Hindu, and these discriminatory acts were going almost unchallenged though the Hindus formed more than bout 80% of the country.

Shivaji, who was endowed with talents of the highest order and a clear vision, was the only one who stood-up to the injustice.He had also an inspiring and endearing personality which spontaneously commanded respect, loyalty and the highest sacrifices from his devoted soldiery and peasants.

This exhibition is relevant today because Shivaji embodied all the qualities that politicians should possess today, but do not have: he was just, firm and stood for the weak; he was an honest and able administrator; he confronted the enemy and was not cowed into submission; he was devoted to Mother India who appeared to him as Bhavani; he was ruthless with his enemies, but spared women, children and his own people ; he would go to both Muslim and Hindu saints and endowed mosques as well as temples.

This wonderful exhibition on India’s eternal hero is brought to Mumbai by FACT, an organization, which is non-political, non-religious and unffiliated to any group. Let the spirit of Shivaji float on India again and deliver her from her present enemies.